Knights win away but lose captain Kurt

They may have won the game, but the Knights have a big problem on their hands, with captain Kurt Gidley set to undergo scans tomorrow on his injured shoulder – to determine how long he will be out for.

The team showed great fortitude to battle on without their captain as well as lock Neville Costigan, who suffered a corked calf – against a Sharks outfit that seemed a bit lackadaisical at times, with too many ball-handling errors that ultimately cost them.

Knights hooker Danny Buderus was full of praise for the Knights team, after their resiliency in the game, led to their win.

“I think that game will make us better equipped,” Buderus said of playing without Gidley, the Knights having won just four of the 15 games the skipper has missed over the last three seasons.

“You can draw on something like that. It gives you confidence whenever one of your topline players drops out and you come away with a win away from home.”

Wayne Bennett, Knights coach, said:

“He’s one of the top players in the game, but we showed a lot of courage here today.

“We just have to get over it. No team’s immune from injuries, we’re no different.”

Like in any game, it is all about applying the pressure and keeping the opposition on their toes, and for Buderus, he thinks that the Knights continued drive and pressure, added to their misfortunes in attack.

“I think we ended up breaking them, we kept repelling them and their spirits dropped a bit,” said Buderus, who secured his first win since returning to the club.

“That last pass, we kept trying to put people in the frame … you never know your luck and we probably had a bit of luck at times.

“The season’s off and running – I never thought I’d sing that (victory) song again – that was good to belt that one out.”

Although the Sharks again fell victim to a controversial refereeing call, when Junior Sa’u scored the match-winner for the Knights – this time around, Sharks coach Shane Flanagan was not about to blame the referees for the performance.

“We created some (chances) but we couldn’t complete them and in the end they were just some simple skill execution to finish those tries off,” said Flanagan, who’s dressing down of his troops was audible from outside the sheds.

“That’s not us, I can guarantee you that’s not us.

“We need to come out now and show that it’s not us in the next two weeks because it was really disappointing from my point of view.